Agronomy Research 8 (Special Issue III), 583588, 2010

Some biological properties and fruit quality parameters of new

sweet cherry cultivars and perspective selections

H. Jnes, P. Ardel, K. Kahu, K. Kelt and A. Kikas

Polli Horticultural Research Centre, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental

Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, 69108 KarksiNuia, Estonia;
e-mail: pille.ardel@pma.agri.ee

Abstract. Twelve Estonian sweet cherry cultivars: Anu, Arthur (control), Elle, Ene,
Irma, Kaspar, Mupi, Tontu, Elo, Jaago, Taki, Tiki and two selections: Polli 21
and Polli 413 as well as two introduced cultivars Iputj (Russia) and Jurgita (Lithuania)
were evaluated for yield, ripening time, fruit weight and biochemical characteristics during
20072009 at the Polli Horticultural Research Centre. Results showed that the earliest ripening
among the all studied genotypes was Elo (16.06), while the latest one was Polli 21 (29.07).
Average of the three years yields ranged from 6.0 kg per tree for cultivar Jurgita to 20.1 kg per
tree for cultivar Arthur. The largest fruits showed cultivars Iputj (6.5 g) and Jurgita (6.0 g),
followed by Arthur, Anu and Mupi while the smallest fruits showed Elo (3.2 g). The
average Brix value in fruit juice varied by the genotypes from 14.6 (Tiki) to 19.6 (Anu),
average of all the genotypes was 17.1. The average total acids content ranged from 0.50% in
Iputj to 0.75% in Ene while the total sugar content ranged from 7.7% in Jurgita to 11.2% in
Arthur. The ascorbic acid content ranged from 13.8 mg 100 g-1 in Jaago to 24.8 mg 100 g-1
in Anu. The sugar:acid ratio was considerably high in Iputj, Kaspar, Arthur, Anu and
Mupi (from 17.9 to 20.3). The most attractive were fruits of the cultivars Iputj, Jurgita,
Mupi and Arthur (from 4.7 to 4.8 points).

Key words: P. avium, ripening time, yield, fruit weight, fruit biochemical content

INTRODUCTION

Sweet cherry is an interesting and increasingly popular fruit species in Estonia,

growing mainly in home gardens and in single commercial farms. The growing of
sweet cherry in Estonia is limited by cold winters, which are characterized by
considerable fluctuations of temperature and sharp changes in weather conditions.
Research work with cherries is concentrated at the Polli Research Centre of the
Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The primary breeding goals
included: winter hardiness, high yield, improvements in fruit size and quality and
moderate or compact growth habit (Kask & Jnes, 1998). In the latest decade the
breeding goal has also been gaining of early and late ripening cultivars to extend the
marketing period. New cultivars registered in the Estonian Variety Register during last
two years include the sweet cherries Arthur, Johan, Meelika, Norri, Polli
rubiin, Elle, Karmel, Piret and Tontu (Estonian Variety Register, 2010). Besides

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midseason cultivars that predominated in sweet cherry production, the assortment
should expand with earlyripening and lateripening cultivars. By Sansavini & Lugli
(2008) the extending the end of season with late ripening genotypes is especially
important to northernmost European areas with cool summers since late ripening
genotypes usually contain better fruit traits such as size, firmness, colour and taste.
The aim of this study was to evaluate new sweet cherry cultivars and promising
selections for ripening time, tree productivity, fruit weight, attractiveness, and
biochemical content.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Twelve Estonian cultivars: Anu, Arthur (the control cultivar), Elle, Elo
Ene, Irma, Jaago, Kaspar, Mupi, Tontu, Taki Tiki and two selections from
the Estonian sweet cherry breeding program, Polli 21 and Polli 413 as well as two
introduced cultivars Iputj (from Russia) and Jurgita (Lithuania) were evaluated in
this study in 20072009. All cultivars were grown on P. mahaleb seedlings rootstock
and planted in collection at the Polli Horticultural Research Centre in 2002 except
Jaago, Elo and Tiki (in 2000). Trees were planted at spacing of 4 x 5 m. Three
trees presented each cultivar. The orchard was located on a medium sandy clay loam
with low (1.5%) humus content. Herbicide strips were maintained along tree rows and
grass sward was mown several times during summer in alleyways. Drip irrigation was
not provided.
The fruit yield was recorded annually (kg per tree). Fruits for planned research
were harvested at full maturity. Fruits were evaluated for fruit quality characteristics,
including average fruit weight (calculated from weight of 100 fruits); soluble solid
content (by ABBE Type WYA-IS digital refractometer and expressed as degree Brix
(Brix); titratable acidity (titrating by 0.1 NaOH solution and referring to malic acid);
total sugars content (inverted sugar and sucrose) by titration with 0.1% Potassium
Hexacyanoferrate (III) solution; and ascorbic acid (determined by using the modified
Tillmans method, where ascorbic acid was titrated with 2.6 dichloroindophenol in acid
environment). Biochemical content of fruits was estimated using the data of the
Laboratory of Biochemistry of the Polli Horticultural Research Centre. Attractiveness
of fruits was visually rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with the rating of 5 being the best.
The data were elaborated statistically by analysis of variance and differences were
compared using LSD-test at P = 0.05.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The winter preceding the 2007 season included two cold periods in February with
the minimum temperatures ranging from 22.2C to 27.7C which caused different
level damages to flowers buds (Kask et al., 2009) however, production in 2007 did not
decrease substantially. Weather conditions in 2008 were quite favourable for sweet
cherries. But summer of 2009 was extremely rainy: the sum of precipitation in June
was 148.8 mm, which was three times more than the long period average.
The period of fruit ripening of the studied sweet cherry cultivars was six weeks
long, starting in the third week of June and ending in the last week of July (Table 1).

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The earliest sweet cherry to ripen was Elo, being 21 days earlier in relation to the
cultivar Arthur, followed by Elle and Polli 413 by 12 and Iputj by 13 days. The
latest sweet cherry was Polli 21, being 22 days later in relation to Arthur. The fruit
ripening time of the cultivar Irma was 14, and Anu 16 days later in relation to the
control cultivar. Most of cultivars were of medium ripening time. Thus, all these
abovementioned cultivars and selections (Elo, Polli 413, Irma, Anu and Polli 21)
could contribute to extend the duration of the sweet cherry ripening season.

Table 1. Average ripening time, fruit appearance and biochemical content of sweet
cherry cultivars and selections in 20072009.
Cultivar Ripening Brix Total Total Sugar: Ascorbic Fruit
time acids, sugars, acid acid, attractive
% % ratio mg ness
100 g-1 15 points
Arthur 07.07 17.3bcd 0.60ab 11.2c 18.8b 21.6ab 4.7 0.2
Anu 22.07 19.6d 0.72b 11.1c 19.3b 24.8b 4.6 0.2
Elle 27.06 15.9ab 0.60ab 9.4abc 15.7ab 21.6ab 4.5 0.2
Elo 16.06 14.9a 0.58ab 9.0ab 16.1ab 21.0ab 4.0 0.2
Ene 12.07 17.2bcd 0.75b 11.1c 16.6ab 18.8ab 4.1 0.4
Jaago 01.07 17.0bc 0.65ab 10.4bc 16.5ab 13.8a 4.1 0.3
Jurgita 12.07 17.7bcd 0.67ab 7.7a 11.5a 20.6ab 4.7 0.1
Iputj 28.06 16.3abc 0.50a 10.0bc 20.3b 19.6ab 4.8 0.1
Irma 23.07 17.8cd 0.60ab 10.3bc 17.2ab 19.9ab 4.6 0.1
Kaspar 07.07 17.3bcd 0.54ab 10.8bc 20.0b 21.4ab 4.4 0.1
Mupi 14.07 17.3bcd 0.63ab 11.0bc 17.9b 16.7ab 4.7 0.1
Polli 21 29.07 17.8cd 0.61ab 10,1bc 17.2ab 15.5a 4.5 0.1
Polli 413 27.06 17.7bcd 0.67ab 10.5bc 16.1ab 21.6ab 4.3 0.1
Taki 05.07 17.0bc 0.70b 10.7bc 15.3ab 16.5ab 4.2 0.1
Tiki 07.07 14.6a 0.60ab 9.8bc 16.6ab 21.4ab 4.2 0.1
Tontu 09.07 18.9d 0.73b 11.1c 15.3ab 21.1ab 4.6 0.1
Average 08.07 17.2 0.64 10.3 16.9 19.2 4.4 0.2
LSD0.5 1.8 0.17 2.0 6.3 8.7
Means followed by the different letter in the same column are significantly different (P < 0.05)

Yields in kg per tree as an average of 20072009 is presented in Fig. 1. The

highest average yields had Arthur (20.1 kg per tree), followed by Anu and Jaago
(19.6 and 19.1 kg per tree, respectively). The lowest average yield produced Jurgita
(6.0 kg per tree). The differences in yield between different genotypes were statistically
significant. Concerning tree size, it should be noted that Kaspar, Iputj, Polli 21 and
Taki were small in size, while all the others were medium or relatively large. Though
the Russian cultivar Iputj is usually good cropper, but in 2009 its commercial yield
was very low due to fruit cracking caused by rainfall before harvest. Rain induced fruit
cracking is a great problem in sweet cherry cultivation in many regions of the world
(Demirsoy & Demirsoy, 2008). It has usually not been a big problem in our country
except in very rainy summers.
Among cultivars, an average fruit weight varied from 6.5 g (Iputj) to 3.2 g
(Elo) (Fig. 1). Cultivar Jurgita showed the next best fruit weight (6.0 g) followed by

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Arthur (5.8 g), Mupi (5.6 g) and Anu (5.5 g). Compared with the control cultivar,
fruits of Iputj and Jurgita were significantly larger. Among the selections, higher
fruit weight had Polli 21 (4.5 g) and lower Polli 413 (3,9 g). To a great extent, fruit
quality (especially fruit weight) determines market value (Crisosto, et al., 2002; Ruisa,
2008). For this reason, Iputj, Jurgita, Arthur, Anu and Mupi may be cultivars
of great interest for our fresh fruit market. By Kappel et al. (1996) ideal weight of
sweet cherry should be about 11 to 12 g in most European countries. However,
majority of local cultivars and selections showed only medium or small fruit weight. It
is most likely due to our climatic features: short frost-free period and cool summers.

25 7
Yield per tree, kg

Fruit weight, g
20
5
15 4
10 3
2
5 1
0 Mupi 0
Anu
Elle
Elo
Ene
Jaago
Jurgita
Arthur

Kaspar

Polli 2-
Polli 4-
Iputj

Tontu
Taki
Tiki
Irma

13
1

Cultivars

Average yield: LSD0.5 for cultivars = 0.77; LSD0.5 for years = 1.31; LSD0.5 for cultivars x years = 3.08
Average fruit weight: LSD0.5 for cultivars = 0.11; LSD0.5 for years = 1.31; LSD0.5 for cultivars x years =
0.43
Figure 1. Yield and fruit weight of the sixteen sweet cherry cultivars and selections
in 20072009.

The soluble solids are one of the best indications of fruit quality (Kappel et al.,
1996). By our results the average Brix value in fruit juice varied among the cultivars
from 14.9 to 19.6 (average 17.1) (Table 1). This is a good Brix value and is well
above an acceptable quality threshold value of 14.2 as defined for sweet cherries by E.
Vangdal (1980). The cultivar Anu exhibited the highest average Brix value (19.6)
followed by 18.9 in Tontu. The lowest Brix value showed Tiki and Elo, 14.6 and
14.9, respectively, which were significantly lower in relation to the control cultivar.
The average total acids content ranged from 0.50% in Iputj to 0.75% in Ene,
being average of all studied genotypes by 0.64 (Table 1). No significant differences
were found between genotypes in total acids content. The acid content in sweet
cherries is low and has no dominating influence on the taste quality (Vangdal, 1985).
The total sugar content ranged from 7.7% in Jurgita to 11.2% in Arthur, average of
all the studied genotypes was 10.3%. The average ascorbic acid content was the
highest in Anu (24.8 mg 100 g-1) and the lowest in Jaago (13.8 mg 100 g-1) (Table
1). No significant differences between genotypes in ascorbic acid content were noted.

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 Attractiveness and size of the fruits are of primary importance. The consumers of
many countries prefer a cherry that is large in size, sweet tasting and dark in colour
(Turner, et al., 2008). The same traits are also important for Estonian consumers. The
fruits of studied genotypes had dark red or dark red to blackish colour except Jaago
(its fruits are pinkish yellow). Sweetness is an important trait of fruit that makes them
attractive to the consumer. The average sugar:acid ratio was considerably high in
Iputj, Kaspar, Arthur, Anu and Mupi (from 17.9 to 20.3). This means that
these cultivars are sweet tasting. The most attractive were fruits of cultivars Iputj,
Jurgita, Mupi and Arthur (from 4.7 to 4.8 points) (Table 1). Among the selections
Polli 21 got the highest scores for attractiveness.

CONCLUSION

Among 16 investigated cultivars and selections the following ones provide a wide
range of valuable characteristics: Elo, Elle, Polli 413 and Iputj for very early and
early ripening time; Polli 21, Anu and Irma for late ripening time; Arthur, Anu,
and Jaago for very good productivity; Jurgita, Iputj, Arthur, Mupi and Anu
for fruit size and attractiveness; Anu and Tontu for high Brix value; Anu for
considerably high ascorbic acid content; Iputj, Kaspar, Anu, Arthur and Mupi
for remarkably high sugar:acid ratio.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This work was supported by the Estonian Science Foundation

grants No.6775 and 7703 and the national target-financial project of Ministry of Education and
Research of Estonia No SF1092711s06.

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